I will cut Immanuel Quickley some slack because the Raptors' initial stages of their December 29 game against the Orlando Magic turned out to be a troublesome affair. But Toronto would converge seamlessly as the game progressed, getting a ton of defensive effort across the board, and a much-needed boost from their young bench pieces. Unfortunately, Immanuel Quickley was not part of that impactful push and paid for it by being sidelined to the Raptors' bench.
After nearly a full year away from official NBA action, Brandon Ingram returned to the court in style during his Raptors debut in Vancouver. Over four preseason games, Ingram looked every bit like a franchise cornerstone, averaging 18.3 points in 27.8 minutes per game on 44.8 percent shooting from the field, a blistering 52.9 percent from three, and 92.3 percent from the free-throw line.
Jamal [Shead], a lot's been made about your leadership on this team, especially being a young player and you organized with the guys and some stuff. I was just wondering like, how I guess, it comes naturally with you, but how hard is it to do when you're, you know, just going into your second year? Some guys might feel like more, you know, bashful, more like shy about it, but you don't. So, where does that come from? And how comfortable are you in that role already?